David Midell on the Casting of ‘The Ritual’

Not many people know that one of the greatest and most influential horror movies of all time, The Exorcist, is based on a true story.

Back in 1928, a young woman was seemingly possessed by a demon, and a team of priests and nuns worked to save her. Was it a psychological issue? Was it supernatural? Years after the event, William Peter Blatty used the case as the basis for his bestselling novel, from which the legendary film was adapted.

Now, nearly a century later, that true story is itself being told. Writer-director David Midell’s latest film, his third, is called The Ritual, and it follows those same priests and nuns who worked to save the tormented young woman.

Starring Al Pacino, Dan Stevens, Patricia Heaton, Ashley Greene and Abigail Cowen, the movie was cast by Ricki Maslar and is now showing in theaters. Midell talked to us about the film from his home in LA.

Insights: Lessons From David Midell

• Study your script thoroughly, make detailed notes, and come to set with questions and ideas—Al Pacino’s approach shows this is valuable at any career stage.
• Build supportive relationships on set and treat everyone as equals; this fosters a comfortable, creative environment and elevates performances.
• If you’re right for the role, much of the work is done—focus on authenticity and bringing your unique perspective, knowing that good casting is foundational for strong performances.

There appears to have been a fair number of Exorcist movies over the last few years. I’m curious. What was it that drew you to this one?

I was fascinated by this true story for several reasons. One was the inherent debate in the documentation and archival information about this case: was it spiritual, psychological, or somewhere in between? That was fascinating to me.

I come from a more scientific background, so I approach it from that perspective. The other thing that resonated with me is that this film asks questions about what people are willing to do to help someone vulnerable around them.

At its heart, the film is about a vulnerable woman who was suffering, and this group of people – who in this case happened to be priests and nuns – came together and put themselves at great personal risk to try to alleviate some of her suffering. That’s what drew me in from an emotional perspective.

Thinking about joining Casting Networks? Sign up for a free trial today!

The cast is, by any definition, stellar. Can you walk me through the casting of the movie? How did you get Pacino?

One of our producers reached out to his agent. I was skeptical and didn’t want to get my hopes up, but I was very pleasantly surprised and excited when the producer told me he was interested and wanted to chat.

A meeting was set up, and I was very nervous. After 10 or 15 minutes, it just became two people talking about the script. He came to the meeting with a printed version of the script that was full of handwritten notes in the margins and had Post-it notes throughout with questions he wanted to ask me and talk about.

It was inspiring to see, and that collaboration has continued. Al was the first person to become attached, and then we ran up against the SAG strikes, so we had to push back our shoot, and casting moved around a little bit.

How did the rest of the cast come together?

Dan came aboard next, then Patricia Heaton. She was an incredible asset.

Aside from being a great actress, Patty is a devout Catholic herself, and her sister is a nun. She was able to give us a lot of really useful insights and was a great resource from that perspective, aside from just giving a beautiful performance.

Dan’s character is really the avatar for the audience. They’re seeing it through his eyes, and he just did such a beautiful job of guiding the audience through this. He doesn’t have a lot of dialogue for certain sections of the film because Al’s character is taking the lead in the first couple of rituals, but you can see everything on Dan’s face. You can see what he’s dealing with, what he’s struggling with, what he’s conflicted about – all those kinds of things.

I imagine that drawing talent like Dan, Patty and Ashley was a lot easier when you already have Al on board.

Absolutely. Things start to move when you have Al Pacino on board. Everybody was very excited to work with him, obviously, and it was great to see how the cast bonded with one another.

Al had never worked with any of the actors in the film before. Still, he developed such great relationships with Dan, obviously, with Abigail Cowen, who plays the Emma character, and Ashley, who was just an absolute superstar. I knew, right from the first moment that we called action, her character was going to be in really good hands.

Is there any intimidation factor in working with someone of Al’s stature?

Al is so easy to be around. He’s so personable, so disarming, and treats everybody like an equal.

Film shoots are stressful. Even the most well-funded ones, which have a nice, long schedule where you don’t necessarily have to rush, there’s always a tremendous amount of time and financial pressure on a film set.

Al has a way of disarming people and has a great sense of humor that helped all of us stay in good spirits and make the best film that we possibly could.

What’s your style as a director? Are you very hands-on with actors, or do you adhere more to the idea of casting doing most of the work for you?

I think both. Casting is incredibly important. Ideally, if you’ve cast the movie the right way, a huge part of the work is done. I’ve worked on films where you cast the right person, 90% of the work is done.

You still want to be in very close contact with the actors because the actors are putting themselves into some emotionally and physically vulnerable positions, and they want to know that they’re in good hands and that they’re going to be protected and supported.

Sometimes, it’s easier said than done, but that’s always the goal.

Are agents taking you a little bit more seriously, having worked with the cast that you worked with in this film?

It’s incremental. This is my third feature, and after each one, those calls have been incrementally easier to make. It’s not an overnight thing, but you are incrementally taken more and more seriously and have more credibility. My mindset is that I hope each film leads to the next one.

Final Takeaways

David Midell’s latest film, The Ritual, dives into the true story that inspired The Exorcist, focusing on the priests and nuns who risked everything to help a suffering young woman. Boasting a powerhouse cast led by Al Pacino, the film explores themes of faith, vulnerability and the blurred lines between the psychological and supernatural. Here’s a quick recap of the conversation:

• Director David Midell was drawn to the emotional and intellectual ambiguity of the true story.
• Al Pacino joined the project after a script meeting, attracting talent like Dan Stevens and Patricia Heaton.
• Patricia Heaton brought personal insight as a devout Catholic with a nun for a sister.
• The cast bonded quickly, with Pacino’s approachable presence helping set a positive tone on set.

You may also like: